


Timebomb

by jamesileee



Category: Rookie Blue
Genre: Cranky Muppet, Division 15, F/F, F/M, Gen, Humor, Officer Lunchbox
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-27 03:29:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12572752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jamesileee/pseuds/jamesileee
Summary: Set immediately after the series finale. No one has spoken a word about Frankie walking out of Gail's bedroom the morning after the wedding and it's driving Chloe crazy. What does this mean for Gail and Frankie? Maybe nothing, but Chloe is determined to find out. Perhaps she's a little too interested. Rated T but will be M in future chapters. Twists and turns will arise.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written or posted anything in years but a rewatch of Rookie Blue inspired me. The shows been off for like two years but I'm writing about it anyway. I hope there are still folks out there interested in reading it. Any comments or criticisms are greatly appreciated. This is just a short first chapter. I'm not sure how long it will end up. I have the whole story blueprinted but not written yet. I hope it's enjoyable.

Timebomb/Two Weeks

"He was shot in the goddamn head, Anderson! What kind of homicide detective doesn't know a gunshot wound to the head?!" Gail shouted, literally throwing her hands up in frustration.  
"I know he was shot in the head, you idiot. Get your own head out of your ass and start asking the right questions: Why was he shot in the head?" Frankie retorted with much less passion than Gail had.  
"Because he was part of the RedBones. It was an execution. We already know all this so why are you making it more difficult than it is?" Gail asked, flopping into her chair as she stared at the evidence board.  
Chloe was amused. She even had a slight smile on her face as she watched the exchange, moving her head back and forth from one woman to the other as though she was watching a tennis match. This had been going on for a solid fifteen minutes, not one real question about the case being answered. She sat, chin in hand, and enjoyed the show.  
"You are liking this way too much," Dov whispered, seeing the look on his girlfriend's face.  
"It's just so interesting, you know? Psychology. Or is it more sociology?" she asked herself. "They slept together two days ago, Dov. Two days! And now here we are, completely back to 'normal,'" she said with finger quotes.  
"Okay but you don't actually know that they slept together," Dov reasoned.  
"What do you suppose they were doing in there, in their underwear? Frankie just happened to take off her pants and change into Gail's shirt while they were braiding each other's hair?" Chloe asked with a giggle at the image she created for herself.  
Dov rolled his eyes and turned back to the still-arguing women. He didn't know if they had slept together or not; he wasn't there when Frankie allegedly strolled out of Gail's bedroom half naked. He was actually glad he wasn't there. Unlike Chloe, he was happier to stay out of it.  
"Jesus Christ, Muppet! Are you back there to pass notes or help us solve a case?" Frankie asked angrily (and loudly), pulling Chloe out of her daze and wiping the small smile off of her face completely.  
"Sorry, Crankypants. It just seemed like you and Gail had it all under control," Chloe said sarcastically, putting on her biggest, sweetest smile.  
"You are not getting paid to sit back there and flirt with your boyfriend. How about you come up here and actually do some goddamn work?" Frankie said, turning back to the board dismissively.  
Chloe rolled her eyes apologetically but obviously at Dov, patted him on the cheek and made her way to the front of the room with Frankie and Gail. She scraped her chair across the floor intentionally and sat down, staring into Frankie's eyes defiantly. She might as well have just said, 'Are you happy now?' aloud.  
"I don't really appreciate the attitude, Price," Frankie spat at her, staring right back.  
"You may out-rank me but you do realise that you're not my boss, right?" Chloe spat right back. She heard Gail chuckle to her right but made a point not to look away from Frankie.  
Frankie's expression visibly blanched. "Geez, Muppet. When did you get to snarky?" she asked, but all the bite was suddenly out of her tone.  
"I've always been this snarky," Chloe told her, attitude diminished from seeing the almost-hurt in Frankie's eyes. "You've just always been too busy being rude to me to notice."  
***  
"Chris, you should've heard them!"  
"Not this again..." Dov sighed, lying his forehead on the lunch table.  
"What?" Chris asked, confused, as he sat down with them.  
"Gail and Frankie--"  
"Shh!!" Chris's eyes widened in panic, looking around the room nervously. "They might be able to hear you!" he whispered.  
"They can't hear me, Chris. I'm not blind. If I could see either of them I wouldn't be talking about- no, actually I probably would be talking about them, just not as loudly."  
"Seriously, babe. When are you gonna let this go?" Dov asked, barely picking up his head in order to look pleadingly into Chloe's eyes.  
"It's not like that. Actually it's the opposite. How long are we going to act like we didn't see Frankie in the kitchen, right there in front of us?"  
"I didn't see her," Dov piped up quickly.  
"You know what I mean. We're all just going about our days acting like we have some giant secret that isn't even a secret. It doesn't make any sense unless they actually like each other. If all it was was sex both of them would be bragging about it."  
Chloe's eyes widened suddenly, causing both men to look around the room in fear of seeing one of the females in question approaching.  
"I got it!" Chloe practically yelled excitedly. "Maybe Frankie never told Gail that Chris and I saw her! Maybe that's why Gail is acting so completely normal like it never happened," she said as though she had just figured out one of the mysteries of the universe.  
"It's possible," Chris shrugged. He, too, was curious about the situation between the two girls. He just didn't get wrapped up in things the same way overzealous Chloe did.  
"But Frankie got two cups of coffee the other morning. One for her and one for Gail. They have to actually care about each other at least a little, right? Where did Gail think the coffee came from? She has to know we saw her."  
Chloe was just arguing with herself at this point.  
"Listen, I think we should just let it go, let them do what they do and keep it to ourselves. It'll be safer for everyone," Chris said reasonably.  
"Ha," Chloe rolled her eyes and chuckled. "You act like they would maim us or something if we actually brought it up," she said, taking a bite of her apple and shaking her head.  
Dov furrowed his brow. "Um, you have met Gail and Frankie, right?"  
"Excuse me?" Gail said, head cocked to the side, suddenly right behind them with her lunch in her hand and a very pissed off look in her eyes.  
"Um-" Chris started, trying to keep his expression as flat as possible.  
"Chloewasjustsurprisedbyyoutwoarguingoverthecasetoday," Dov spat out, shocking himself with his own quick save.  
"Oh," Gail said, only momentarily skeptical. "Yeah, Chloe. Have you met us?" she chuckled, sitting down to join them.  
"It just seemed...worse than usual today," Chloe chose her words carefully, deciding that if she played her cards right she might be able to cause Gail to slip some information even without saying it outright. "I know you guys hate each other but today was...intense."  
"Really? I hadn't noticed," Gail lied, badly. "She's a bitch," she shrugged. "I'm a bitch," she added. "Just two bitches, being...bitches."  
"I guess you're right," Chloe nodded, deciding to let it go, for now.  
"You cracked me up today though," Gail said excitedly. "You really put her in her place, Price! 'You do realise you're not my boss, right?'" she mimicked Chloe. "That was awesome."  
"I know that's not really like me. I just get tired of her treating me like crap all the time," Chloe admitted. "She thinks she's better than me. She's above me, I get it. But superiors should be able to be superiors without being so..."  
"Superior?" Chris asked, smirking.  
"Yes! You know what I mean..." Chloe sighed.  
"Naw, you're totally right," Gail nodded, eating her cheese puffs audibly. "Like Oliver, and Sam. They're above us. Always have been. But that doesn't mean they're dicks to us all the time."  
"It's just a difference of personality. Oliver and Sam are Oliver and Sam. Frankie would treat everyone like crap even if she wasn't a higher rank," Dov observed.  
"I just wonder what makes people like that, ya know?" Chloe mused. "Like did she have a really crappy life or was she just born that way?"  
"Some people would ask the same thing about me," Gail noted.  
"You're right. But you're not actually a terrible person. You're just really good at pretended that you're a terrible person in order to keep people out. Keep your walls up," Chloe told her without missing a beat.  
Gail stared at Chloe for a solid minute, an angry, defensive look in her eye. For a moment Chloe wondered how badly she'd messed up. Gail's defense mechanisms were obvious to Chloe. She just didn't have the filter to not say them aloud like everyone else did.  
After a moment of contemplating whether to throw Chloe across the table or not, Gail closed her eyes and considered what the doe-eyed girl had said. It wasn't a revelation: Gail knew that to be true about herself. It was the fact that others (Chloe) could see it too that made her angry. She decided not to confirm nor deny, or throw the red head across the table.  
"So maybe Frankie's not actually a terrible person either," Gail shrugged, turning back to her cheese puffs. "Maybe she's just trying to keep people out too."  
Chloe looked quickly to Chris and Dov, saying 'Ha, I was right' without having to say a word.  
"Well if that's the case, it's working," Chris said.  
***


	2. Chapter 2

The following week Gail had been seeming extra cheery, even waiting a moment or two before pushing Chloe away from one of the girl's all-too-freely given (and unwelcomed) hugs. Chloe was of course convinced that it had something to do with Gail's new 'relationship', though Dov and Chris were quick to point out that Frankie hadn't been around Gail at all. The guys were still trying to get Chloe to let the whole thing go. After a week it wasn't quite as pressing on Chloe's mind but it still came up in conversation more often than Dov or Chris would like.  
It was Friday and despite the impending weekend, the shift had gone well. They saved a couple lives and got a few bad guys off of the streets. To Fifteen, it was a win.  
"So guys, I know it's impromptu but this weekend is Oliver and Celery's anniversary. I was thinking about throwing them a little party at the Penny," Gail said casually, sipping a beer with Chloe in the kitchen while Dov and Chris played Call of Duty in the living room.   
All three of them instantly looked at her skeptically. Gail in a decent mood? Gail planning a party for one of her friends? On her own? It was only her first beer so they couldn't blame the alcohol.   
"What?!" Gail asked, seeing the shocked looks of her friends. "I can be nice!"  
Chloe just raised an eyebrow in response.  
"When I want to..." she tacked on.  
"Naw, Gail that sounds like a great idea," Chris nodded, looking back to his game.  
"Yeah, let us know what we can do to help," Dov added.  
Gail looked to Chloe, who still just had one eyebrow raised and a smirk on her face.  
"Okay, Muppet, you're uninvited," Gail shot.  
"Hey! You don't get to call me Muppet! Only Frankie calls me that and that's just because she hates me," Chloe argued.  
"I hate you, too," Gail said flatly.  
"Aww, no you don't, Sweetie!" Chloe grinned, leaning over and wrapping her arms around Gail lovingly.  
"Bleh!!!" Gail groaned, pushing Chloe away with a disgusted look on her face. "I hate you even more when you do that."  
"I know," Chloe nodded happily.  
"So when's this party?" Dov asked, looking away from the screen for a split second.  
"Tomorrow night, I guess," Gail shrugged. "Oliver's taking Celery to some sort of hippy thing on Sunday so I figure they might as well be hung over."  
"That sounds...reasonable?" Chris furrowed his brow.  
"Okay, I haven't really put much thought into this whole party thing, alright? I just thought it would be a nice idea," Gail rolled her eyes.  
"It's a great idea," Dov encouraged.  
"So basically we're all going to the Penny and we may or may not actually buy their drinks?" Chloe asked.  
"Shut up! It's a party!" Gail huffed.  
"Hey, maybe you should invite Frankie to the party," Chloe threw out with a wide grin upon her face.  
Gail's head whipped around so fast that she missed Dov and Chris doing the same. The look in her eyes was shock (that Chloe would even suggest it) and anger (that Chloe would bring this up after a week). To Chloe, it was a definite tell. Gail did know that they saw Frankie that morning.   
"Why the hell would I do that, Muppet?" Gail spat.   
"Oh, ya know..." Chloe was still all smiles. Gail expected the worst. "Since we talked about how she might not actually be a bad person and all. Maybe she only has those walls up because we're pretty tight knit, you know? Maybe she'd open up a little more if we actually seemed like we want her around."   
Chloe chuckled out loud at her own semantics. For a moment she wondered if she was about to get hit in the skull with Gail's beer bottle. But the look on Gail's face would've made even that worth it.   
"We don't want her around, Chloe. I'm not sure how you missed that part," Gail told her.  
"We don't?" Chloe bit her lip to keep her smug grin from growing too large.  
"No, Chloe! We don't!"   
"Oh. Okay," Chloe shrugged. "I just wasn't sure," she laughed.  
"I actually hate you."  
xx  
"What time should we be there tonight?" Andy asked Gail as they changed in the locker room at end of shift the next day. It had not been easy like yesterday and they were all looking forward to letting loose.  
"I told Oliver like nine," Gail shrugged. "I got some stupid balloons and shit though so I'm heading over around eight."  
"Ooh, balloons?" Chloe piped up, standing there in her bra and smiling. "I'll come with you early to help."  
"That would just be fantastic, Chloe," Gail said sarcastically, though she honestly appreciated the offer.  
Chloe smiled. Andy shook her head at the two.   
"Nine it is," Andy laughed.   
"Who all did you invite?" Chloe asked, sitting on the bench and drying her hair.  
"Only people Oliver would want to be around."  
"Oliver loves everybody," Chloe said.  
"Okay, so only people that I would want to be around," Gail admitted.  
"Not a lot of people, huh?" Andy smirked.  
"Nope."  
As they discussed plans and times and the very few people that were invited, Frankie strolled into the locker room like she owned the place. Much like she strolled out of Gail's bedroom that morning, Chloe thought. As a detective who got to wear her 'pretty clothes' to work, Frankie didn't often have much reason to be in the locker room at Fifteen. Gail, Andy and Chloe all looked at her as such when she walked up to them casually.  
"What the hell are you doing in here?" Gail asked without pretense.   
"I had to pee," Frankie shrugged, lacking the normal bitchy bite that she wore well.  
"You know there are restrooms for that," Gail scoffed.  
"They were full."  
"You just wanted to come in here to see a bunch of half-naked chicks, didn't you?" Gail chuckled. Both Andy and Chloe looked at her in shock.  
"Was that a gay joke?" Frankie almost chuckled but her expression remained sad and tired. "From a fellow gay? Real cool, Peck," she rolled her eyes, defeated, and began to walk away.  
Andy smacked Gail's arm, hard, once Frankie's back was turned.  
"What the hell?" she mouthed inaudibly.  
Chloe was looking at Gail with disappointment in her eyes. Maybe she wasn't a very good person after all.  
Gail huffed out loud and rolled her eyes.  
"Anderson, wait," Gail said, loudly enough to stop Frankie but with reluctance in her voice.   
Frankie turned around slowly, not ready for whatever new insult Gail was ready to throw at her.  
"Rough day?" Gail attempted sincerity and found she didn't have to try as hard as she expected.  
"What the hell do you care, Peck?" Frankie said, looking at the ground.  
Gail swallowed hard. This chick really didn't make it easy to be nice to her.  
"I, um, we're throwing a party at the Penny tonight for Oliver and Celery's anniversary. You should come. Drink it off," Gail shrugged nonchalantly.   
Chloe smiled. Andy wondered why.  
"Feeling sorry for me now, Peck?" Frankie scoffed. "Or just feeling guilty 'cause you're such a bitch all the time?"   
Gail's blood pressure rose instantly. If they weren't in the locker room Frankie would be on her ass right now.  
"Me?! Seriously? I'm trying to fucking be nice to you and you're gonna call me a bitch?" Gail couldn't control the rise of her voice. Chloe stood, unsure of what she may have to jump into.  
"Being 'nice' to me?" Frankie took a step forward. "It takes a lot of goddamn nerve to make a gay joke one minute and invite me to a party the next. Do you even know what being nice is? You probably don't. Your whole family is so fucked up you probably never had a chance to see it in action."  
"Listen, bitch--" Gail stepped forward only to recieve a hand being held up to her face. Andy and Chloe were both poised and ready to stop a fight.  
"No. You listen," Frankie said, hatred emanating from her, "You can dish it out but you can't take it. You think it's okay to treat everyone else like shit and then call people out for doing the exact same thing you do with every goddamn breath. I'm done taking it."  
Before Gail could respond, Frankie was back out the door.   
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Gail smacked her locker, hard, the metal clang echoing through the locker room.  
"Gail--" Andy started.  
"No!" Gail stopped her attempt at comfort in it's tracks. "No. She's not worth it." She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and exhaled. "She's not worth it. I have a goddamn party to plan." She threw her shirt on quickly, grabbed her things and bolted.  
Andy and Chloe looked at each other, wide-eyed. Frankie had said some hurtful things. But Chloe knew that the most hurtful thing to Gail was that Frankie was right.  
xx  
Gail arrived at the Penny at 7:48PM. By 8:03PM she had downed two shots of Jack and was halfway through a beer. But there were seven balloons blown up. Chloe walked in to the nearly empty bar to find Gail standing on a chair in an attempt to hang a black (imagine that) streamer.  
"How's it going, Monkey?" Chloe smiled up at her, picking up the opposite end of the streamer from the floor.  
"Where do you come up with these ridiculous nicknames? You really are a five year old."   
"You're up on a chair, practically trying to climb the ceiling. You're a monkey," Chloe reasoned.  
Gail rolled her eyes even though she almost saw the logic.   
"Is that all the balloons you got?" Chloe asked, looking around to see the few balloons lying in various areas of the floor.   
"No. That's all the balloons I finished. I thought you were balloon patrol?" Gail smirked.  
"I'm all over it," Chloe clapped her hands excitedly and walked away on a mission. A moment later she returned. "Where are the balloons?"  
Gail laughed sincerely and pointed to the bar, where the bag of uninflated balloons sat next to her half-drank beer. Chloe scampered off.   
The chair Gail was standing on scraped across the floor loudly as she jumped off of it, quickly and without grace. Chloe walked over with a half inflated balloon sticking out of her mouth.  
"Herve you bern drinkin aready?" Chloe asked around the balloon.  
"Herve you?" Gail mocked.   
Chloe rolled her eyes and tied off the balloon. "I'll take that as a yes."   
"Who all did you tell?" Gail asked a second later, suddenly incredibly serious.  
"Tell what?" Chloe asked, though she was pretty sure she knew the answer.  
Gail simply cocked her head to the side and looked at Chloe knowingly.  
Chloe sighed. She was surprised that Gail had brought it up at all. It was impossible to predict how this conversation would go. It was always impossible to predict Gail.  
"No one. Well, Dov. But that's it, I swear," Chloe held her hand up to nothing.   
"Uggghhhh!" Gail groaned loudly, grabbing her half beer and sitting down on the floor with Chloe.   
"It doesn't have to be a big deal, Gail," Chloe told her, though she herself had been making a big deal out of it for a week. "You know she just walked right out into the kitchen like she lived there. It's not like we found out in some weird, sneaky way."  
"I know," Gail said quietly. "When she came back into the room I thought I was going to puke." Upon Chloe's shocked look she corrected herself. "Not because of her! Because her coming back into the room meant that she had to have left the room. I assumed at least one of you was awake."  
"Chris was out there too," Chloe shot out quickly. She didn't want Gail to have any more surprises.   
Gail gulped the rest of her beer.  
The door to the Penny opened and Andy, Sam, Frank and Noelle walked in, smiling at the girls sitting in the middle of the bar floor. Gail looked to Chloe and whispered "zip it" even though she trusted Chloe enough to know that it went without saying. Chloe just smiled and blew up another balloon.  
xx


	3. Chapter 3

The Penny was hopping, though not many of the patrons were there for the 'party.' Gail wasn't kidding when she said she hadn't invited many people. Oliver and Celery acted surprised (even though they certainly weren't) and were grateful for Gail's thoughtfulness. Everyone was talking amongst themselves, drinking and shooting darts. It would have been considered a regular night at the Penny except there was a more peaceful atmosphere surrounding everyone.  
"AH HA! Suck, that, suckers!" Gail shouted with joy as she threw a dart that hit the very center of the bullseye.  
"That should have been physically impossible," Dov said to Oliver, his partner for the game.  
"Excuse me? Rude," Gail scoffed.  
"No, Gail, I'm just saying, how much have you had to drink?" Dov asked, still shocked by her darts skills.  
"A: not that much. B: I get better after I drink," she answered.  
"Thank God," Chloe said.  
"Would you like me to dump you as my partner, Chloe? I can stick you with shitty Dov next round," Gail threatened with a smirk.  
"No, I'll take drunk Gail over shitty Dov any day," Chloe said honestly.  
"Hey!" Dov put a hand to his heart like he was deeply hurt and they laughed.  
"She's not wrong, man..." Oliver added for good measure.  
The door to the Penny opened and Chloe caught a flash of light reddish hair out of the corner of her eye. To say she was surprised to see Frankie enter the bar would have been an understatement. Since Dov and Oliver were now arguing among themselves about Dov's lack of skill Chloe took the opportunity to smack Gail (too hard) to get her attention.  
"Ow! What?!" Gail asked, smacking Chloe back before she even knew the reason. Any excuse to smack Chloe...  
"Look..." Chloe said in an attempted whisper. She had a bit to drink already as well but subtlety had never been her strong suit sober either.  
"Oh," Gail shrugged half-heartedly when she saw that Chloe was pointing to Frankie. She acted nonchalant poorly.  
"I can't believe she showed up after your fight today," Chloe said, looking around to assure that no one in the room would know what she and Gail were talking about.  
"Well..." Gail started before rolling her eyes at herself and finishing her beer. "Well I may have...apologized to her..." she said as though it was the most embarrassing thing in the world to admit.  
"Oh. Wow." Chloe didn't even try to keep the shocked expression from her face. "When?"  
"I texted her. After shift."  
"You felt guilty!" Chloe said in awe, poking her in the chest with one finger.  
"Do you wanna keep that finger?!" Gail asked, grabbing onto the digit and holding it a bit too roughly.  
"Yes, please," Chloe said, pulling her hand back. "So, she accepted your apology?"  
"I mean, I guess so. She never responded. And yet here she is," Gail rolled her eyes, almost wishing the girl hadn't shown up.   
"That's good, Gail! You apologized and she's here. You're growing as a person," Chloe nodded happily.   
"I didn't apologize because I wanted her to show up," Gail argued honestly.  
"No, you apologized because you felt guilty," Chloe pointed out again, only to get the finger from Gail. "You know what that means?"   
"That I'm growing as a person," she mocked Chloe's cheery tone.   
"Well I was gonna say tequila shots, but yeah, that too."  
Chloe approached the bar to find Frankie and Tracy talking about something that sounded suspiciously work related. They saw her approaching and Chloe considered how to handle the situation. She and Tracy had always gotten along well. She and Frankie, not so much.  
"Hi ladies," Chloe said casually, stepping up to the bar on the side of Frankie and waiting to order her shots. "How are you?"   
"Great party, Chloe. It was a nice idea for Oliver and Celery," Tracy said kindly, sipping her drink.  
"It was all Gail's idea, actually. I just blew up some balloons," Chloe shrugged.  
"Well that explains a lot," Frankie piped up suddenly. Both Tracy and Chloe looked at her, confused. "It was a dumb joke, Muppet. Lack of oxygen to the brain, and whatnot. A joke about you being dumb," she clarified.   
"Aww, you're joke was so dumb it went right over our heads," Chloe grinned, reaching out and literally patting Frankie on the head like a child.  
Frankie swatted Chloe's hand away but burst out laughing anyway, causing Tracy to laugh as well.   
"It was a pretty bad joke," Frankie admitted, still laughing.  
"We're doing tequila shots. You two are joining us," Chloe decided, ordering four shots from the bartender.   
"I don't know about tequila..." Frankie said apprehensively.  
"Are you scared, Detective?" Chloe challenged, picking up a shot and wafting it under Frankie's nose.  
"I am not scared of anything, Muppet," Frankie narrowed her eyes at the girl.   
"That's what I thought," Chloe grinned, handing a shot to each of them and picking up the remaining two. "Let's roll, ladies. I don't have all night," she said loudly as she made her way back across the bar to Gail.  
Tracy and Frankie looked at each other and laughed but followed her nonetheless.   
"I brought company," Chloe sang as she reached Gail and the long-forgotten darts game.   
"Why?" Gail asked before she even saw who said company was.   
A moment later Tracy and Frankie walked up, each with their own shot of tequila in hand. Gail started to have heart palpitations before she reasoned with herself that she was Gail Peck and Gail Peck didn't get awkward or worry about strange social situations. If Frankie didn't want to be there then she could piss off.   
"Okay, okay, what are we toasting to?" Chloe asked, even bobbing up and down excitedly.  
"Um, Oliver and Celery?" Tracy suggested as though that should have been obvious.  
"Shouldn't we like toast to them if they're in on the toast?" Gail scrunched up her face and laughed.  
"Right? I honestly haven't even seen either of them since I got here," Frankie added.   
"Okay, new toast..." Tracy stood corrected.  
Chloe looked to Gail. "How about, 'to doing the right thing'?" she suggested.  
"That is the absolute most Muppet thing to toast to," Frankie chuckled.  
But they toasted to it anyway.

xxx

The sun was shining. The birds were chirping. Chloe was only slightly hung over. It was a good day. Dov was still fast asleep (having had far more to drink the previous night) so Chloe pulled on a sweatshirt and put on a pot of coffee. She knew the others would appreciate it once they finally woke up.   
She had only been sipping her coffee and watching the Today Show for about ten minutes when Gail practically crawled out of her bedroom, grunting at Chloe and going to get coffee.  
"Good morning to you too, Sunshine," Chloe said sleepily.  
"Why are you in your underwear on my couch?" Gail rasped, squinting as she held the cup of hot, black coffee under her nose.  
"They're boxers," she told her.   
Gail just blinked at her.  
"Did you have fun last night?" Chloe asked sincerely, lying her head on the back of the couch so she could see Gail in the kitchen.   
"Up until those tequila shots settled, yeah," Gail admitted. "That was a terrible idea."  
"Hey, only one of those tequila shots was my idea. You just kind of ran with it," she laughed.  
Gail groaned.   
"I think Oliver and Celery really appreciated it. It was a nice idea, Gail," Chloe told her, earning a genuine smile in response.   
A moment later Gail's genuine smile faltered when her bedroom door opened again and Frankie emerged, looking even more worse for wear than she did. Chloe's look of shock only lasted a moment before she saw the almost sad look on Gail's face and blinked it away.   
Frankie was clad in a T-shirt and sweatpants, both Chloe knew to be Gail's. Her hair was pulled up in a messy ponytail and her eyes were red and puffy. The girl walked into the kitchen like she owned the place, much like she had last time, and poured herself a cup of coffee. She half-nodded at Gail before walking straight into the living room and plopping down onto the couch next to Chloe, who hadn't said a word and didn't know how to react to any of it.  
"What are we watching, Muppet?"


	4. Chapter 4

It happened more often after that. Usually after a drunken night at the Penny, sometimes after a particularly rough shift, Frankie would emerge from Gail's bedroom the next morning without acknowledging that anything was out of the ordinary. Once a week, sometimes twice, Chloe and the guys would find themselves in the company of Frankie in the morning. Most days she and Gail had little or no interaction, though Frankie would talk to the roommates like she was one of their own.   
Gail remained quiet most mornings. She would distance herself in the kitchen or take a shower. Sometimes she would even retreat back to her bedroom after Frankie was out with the others. She never spoke a word about it to any of them and they certainly knew not to bring it up to her. It was an uncomfortable game that they all silently played, waiting for the inevitable (and possibly violent) end.   
"Do you know what you're working on today?" Chris asked one morning, pouring some juice and looking to Frankie. He wasn't asking in order to make small talk; he was genuinely interested in the homicide department.  
"Probably the same old gang bang crap, and not in a fun way," Frankie answered, chuckling at her own joke. "You know, like 'gang bang'?" she asked, humping motion and all.  
"We know," Chloe told her flatly.  
Frankie rolled her eyes. "Honestly, I wish the gangs would move out of the city just because I'm so tired of them. A good, old fashioned murder would be nice once in a while."  
All three roommates (Chloe might as well have been a roommate by that point) looked at her skeptically.   
"This detective in training stuff is intimidating," Dov admitted, prompted by Frankie's gang talk. "How do you deal with the responsibility?" he asked, wrapping her arm casually around Chloe on the couch.  
"It's really not that different," Frankie told him, sipping her coffee as she crossed her legs underneath herself on the arm chair. "We're all responsible for keeping people safe, right? The beat cops have it kind of nice because they actually get to protect people. As a detective you just gotta catch the people who already got away with something. It's too late to protect people in my line."  
Chloe was surprised by Frankie's openness. She thought back to last month when they talked about Frankie keeping her walls up. Now that they spent time with her and seemed like they wanted her around she had lightened up nicely. In fact everyone seemed like they wanted Frankie around but Gail.   
"You still protect people," Chloe spoke up, ever the cheerleader. "Even if it's too late for the victims, you're protecting whoever these killers would go after next."  
"That's a nice thought, Muppet," Frankie said sincerely. "Thanks," she smiled.  
"She's right. We all work together no matter what department we're in," Chris nodded. "Speaking of which, I gotta get ready for work. Do you know if Gail needs a ride?" he asked, not thinking it strange in the least.  
"I, uh, I don't know," Frankie answered uncomfortably. It was the first time any of them had even mentioned Gail's name to her in the safety of the apartment, despite the fact that they all knew that the woman was the reason she was there. Chris sensed her awkwardness and felt bad.  
"It's cool. I'll ask her," he said, heading out of the living room.  
"I have to go to. I have a meeting with Tracy to go over some points for a trial next week," Dov said, standing from the couch.  
"I'm on surveillance with Andy today," Chloe sighed.   
"Booorrrrrinng," Frankie sang.  
"I know, right?" Chloe laid back into the seat of the couch that Dov had forfeited. "But I don't have to go in until ten."  
"Lucky," Frankie said, standing from the chair and stretching. She walked into the kitchen and rinsed out her coffee cup like she lived there. "I'm out. See ya at work, Muppet," she threw behind her as she walked out the door, not even looking in the direction of Gail's bedroom.

xxx

"I don't get it, Gail," Chloe said, exasperated, walking up to the woman in the locker room after shift.  
"What a shock!" Gail mocked, completely unaware of Chloe's subject.  
"Ha ha," Chloe said dryly, sitting on the bench. She hadn't been in the field at all today and had no reason to be in the locker room aside from tracking down her friend. "The Frankie thing--"  
"Shh!!! What the hell is wrong with you, Chloe?!" Gail looked around the empty locker room in a panic.   
"No one's here, Gail," Chloe told her. "Okay, so that person I'm not allowed to mention, I just don't get it."  
"There's nothing to get, Chloe. And we are NOT talking about this here."  
"Which means we can talk about it somewhere else..." Chloe nodded happily.   
"I did not say that," Gail huffed.  
"It was implied."

xxx

"So can you explain it to me?" Chloe asked the instant that they sat down at the bar.  
"I really don't know what you want me to explain. You've had sex, right?" Gail was not going to make this conversation easy, though Chloe knew that going in.  
"I don't mean the sex, Gail. Well I mean, yeah, the sex, but like about the sex, not like details or anything," Chloe scrunched up her face in disgust. "Why are you doing this? What are you even doing?"  
"Why are you making this such a big deal?" Gail asked, fidgeting in her chair as she became more uncomfortable.  
"Why aren't you?"  
"Because it's not a big deal. We are both adults. It's nothing more than it is," she shrugged.  
"Okay, the first time, hell, the first like five times I let it go. None of my business. But now--"  
"Still none of your business," Gail interrupted.  
"Fair, but she's at the apartment all the time--"  
"So are you."  
"But Dov is my boyfriend," Chloe argued. "Is Frankie your girlfriend?"  
"Oh hell no! God! Do you really think I'm that damaged?" Gail chuckled. She wasn't pretending to find it absurd, she genuinely did.  
"No, Gail. I don't. That's why I want you to explain it to me."  
"It's sex, Chloe. That's it," Gail put her hands up and shrugged.  
"You could have sex with a lot of different women, Gail. Why choose someone you barely even like?" Chloe asked, resting her chin in her hand as she awaited a response.   
"It's easy." Gail sighed at the fact that she was openly having this conversation. "Sometimes, ya know, sometimes you want the chase. Like the challenge. Seeing if someone is interested in you, getting them to like you, blah blah blah. And sometimes you just wanna get off."   
"Okay..." Chloe nodded. "No, I get that. I really do."  
They sat in quiet contemplation for only a moment before Chloe spoke up again.  
"So do you two ever like, snuggle? Or kiss? Even talk?"   
"No, not really," she admitted. "That's not the point."  
"Is it because of Holly?"   
One question. Five words. It was like she set off a nuclear bomb.  
"Excuse me?!" Gail's tone and entire demeanor and flipped faster than Chloe had ever seen it, and she didn't even get to clarify yet.  
"I mean, maybe the situation with Frankie is easy because you don't care about her, you know? Like you don't have to worry at all that you're going to catch feelings with her. If you were sleeping with someone else you might run the risk of falling for them. And if you fall for someone else then you have to admit that it's over with Holly."  
"Who the fuck are you to analyse my life, Price? Why the fuck do you think you know me? Frankie has nothing to do with her and she never will." The venom in Gail's voice dissipated into pain as she spoke.  
"Have you heard from her lately?" Chloe asked softly, to make sure that Gail knew she wasn't trying to be hurtful. She saw Gail's sadness no matter how hard the woman tried to hide it.   
Gail shook her head silently, swallowing the tears that were running behind her eyes. "A few weeks ago," she said, nearly inaudibly. "Just a couple texts. Nothing real."  
"That's good though, right?" Chloe smiled, putting her hand on top of Gail's and squeezing lightly.  
Gail took a deep breath.   
"It's not like it matters."

xxx

Weeks passed. The routine hadn't changed. It was as if Chloe and Gail had never had the enlightening conversation that was almost getting them somewhere. Subconsciously Chloe worried that bringing up Holly had only pushed Gail further into the unhealthy 'relationship' with Frankie. The detective was still at the apartment more mornings than not, she and Gail still acting like they barely knew each other.   
"Black and yellow can suck it!" Chris yelled at the television before the game had even started.  
"You know, statistically the odds of the Maple Leafs winning over the Penguins is like..." Dov began.  
"None," Chloe finished.   
"Geez, guys. Way to support the team," Chris sunk into his chair.  
"We're realists," Chloe chuckled.  
"Yeah, right."  
The door to the apartment opened and Gail walked in with Frankie in tow. In all of their endeavours they had never come into the apartment together before the others had gone to bed. It was a strange change of pace and none of the roommate knew what to make of it. It was only eight thirty.  
"Hey," Dov called out, hoping to create some normalcy.  
"Hey," both Gail and Frankie called back.  
"Games on. Come join us," Chris added.   
The girls each got a beer and made their way to the living room. Chloe quickly got up from the arm chair and joined Dov on the couch so that Gail and Frankie wouldn't have to sit on the couch next to one another. The look in Gail's eyes was a silent 'thank you'. She sat on the couch next to Chloe and Frankie made herself comfortable in the chair that had become her spot on most mornings.   
"Pittsburgh's gonna kick your ass," Frankie said casually, sipping her beer and pulling her legs under her.   
"Aren't you from Vancouver?" Chris asked.  
"Doesn't make the Penguins any less good," she said in the tone of 'duh.'  
"No love..." Chris shook his head.   
The hockey game and differences of opinion filled the space of whatever awkwardness could have taken place in the situation. Gail was grateful for it. Except Gail hated hockey. Gail hated sports. She played with her phone, checked some emails, just about anything to not have to watch the hockey game or engage with the others. It all became too much for her after about an hour.  
"I'm going to take a shower," she excused herself and was out of the room before any of them had a chance to even make eye contact.  
They looked after her with concern but Frankie's eyes remained glued to the game. Chloe felt the need to break the discomfort.  
"Who needs a beer?" she asked, popping up from the couch and heading to the kitchen.   
Dov and Chris each grunted something along the line of 'sure' while Frankie rose to walk to the kitchen as well. Chloe hovered in the refrigerator for a moment and waited but nothing came.  
"You hungry?" Chloe asked, looking at the array of absolute crap in the kitchen and hoping that the girl said no.  
"No." (Phew) "My leg was just asleep." (Lie)  
"Oh, okay," Chloe nodded, taking the cap off of a beer bottle and handing it to Frankie who was leaning on the counter as though she didn't want to return to the living room just yet. "You alright?"   
"Yeah," Frankie nods too enthusiastically.   
All Chloe had to do was raise an eyebrow and lean next to her.  
"I shouldn't be here, should I?" Frankie asked, completely uncharacteristically.   
"You are really asking the wrong person," Chloe admitted, taking a long swill of her beer. "But what do you mean?"  
"I don't even know why I am here, honestly. I mean, this is your place--"  
"You know I don't live here, right?" Chloe chuckled.  
"No. You don't?" Frankie looked at her in disbelief.   
"Nope," Chloe smiled.  
"Well, regardless. It's just, I'm here and I end up spending more time with you three losers than with...her. Queen bitch loser."  
Chloe actually burst out laughing. "I did notice that," she admitted. "Why is that?"  
"I don't know. That's why I'm saying I shouldn't be here."  
"Well, I think we enjoy your company," Chloe smiled.   
"Beer?" was suddenly called from the living room and Chloe honestly couldn't tell which of the guys had yelled it. She looked at the two undelivered bottles on the counter and shook her head at the cavemen.  
"Come on. Finish watching the game with us," Chloe nodded her head toward the living room.   
"There's no contest, but okay," Frankie smiled.  
It was half-way through the third period when Gail finally emerged from the bathroom. She was wearing sweats and didn't make it the whole way into the living room before she called, "I'm going to bed."  
"'Night," Chloe said politely.   
"Yeah, g'night Gail," Chris answered. Dov had gone to bed before the third period even began, earning a coughed *loser* from Frankie.  
Gail lingered between the rooms for a moment, staring at the back of Frankie's head without even realising it. She was the reason that the woman was there. She expected that Frankie would go to bed when she did. Plus, if they weren't going to have sex why was the woman even there?  
Frankie caught Chloe's eyes accidentally, which moved in such a way to imply that Gail was waiting for her without Gail knowing they had the silent conversation.   
"Oh, I'm gonna finish watching the game," Frankie said, looking back at Gail casually.   
"Okay," Gail said, turning and quickly walking into her room, shutting the door.   
Chris, for one, felt incredibly awkward. He tried to drown the feeling out by focusing on the game but by this point it was just useless. He looked at Frankie questionably for a moment, finally wondering just what was going on. He knew better than to ask, though.  
The game came to an end, Pittsburgh up 4-2. Chris was disappointed despite his lack of support and excused himself to bed. Chloe remained lying on the couch, Frankie in the chair behind her head, the sound of the TV and dim light flowing around the discomfort. Without looking, Chloe reached back and handed the remote to Frankie, who chuckled and took it. She flipped through channels for a moment, found Family Guy and left it on.  
"This does not seem like you," Chloe laughed, looking back just enough to almost have Frankie's face in her line of sight.  
"I can be fun," Frankie said flatly.  
"I know you can. That's not what I meant," she chuckled.  
"I should probably go," Frankie sighed, standing and looking around, uncertainly.  
"You're not going to bed," Chloe asked, sitting up as well and stretching.  
Frankie shrugged. "I probably should have gone to bed when she did. I mean, I'm not here to watch hockey with her friends, right?"   
"I didn't know you were this insecure," flew out of Chloe's mouth before she had a chance to think better of it.  
"I'm not!" Frankie spat, embarrassed and offended.  
"No, no... I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that," Chloe apologized, walking closer to Frankie and holding her hands up in surrender. "I guess I just didn't know that this Gail thing meant anything to you, you know?"  
"Well it doesn't. Not really," Frankie sighed. "I mean, I don't even really like her as a person let alone like her," she admitted.  
"So...why are you doing this?" Chloe asked. It felt like deja vu.  
"Sex."   
Chloe was really getting tired of sex being the reason for everything.  
"Okay, so...why did you finish watching the game with us instead of going to bed with Gail?"  
"Power," Frankie admitted directly. "I don't like her, but I don't like being at her beck and call, either."  
Chloe nodded, impressed. "Good. You shouldn't."   
Frankie sighed dramatically. "I guess I'm going to bed. Good talk," she high-fived Chloe and walked away.  
Gail was still awake when Frankie walked into her room, dimly lit by the street lamp outside. Frankie took off her pants and was about to crawl into bed when something stopped her. Something in her gut. She wasn't sure what it was but it caused her to perch on the edge of the bed instead of lying down in it.  
"What's up?" Gail asked, sounding annoyed.  
"Nothing," Frankie responded automatically before rethinking it. "What are we doing?"   
"Oh God!" Gail actually groaned, throwing her arm over her face in an attempt to avoid it. "You want to have 'the talk' now, don't you?" She sounded so irritated with the entire situation that Frankie almost just got up and left. Almost.  
"It's not that serious, Gail. You don't have to be so dramatic," she said quietly.  
"Exactly! It's not that serious. You don't have to be so dramatic."  
Gail hadn't uncovered her face yet. Frankie knew she was trying to will 'the talk' away.   
"Don't worry, Gail. I don't want to date you. I really don't even like you most days. I just wonder why we're doing this sometimes."  
"You know exactly why we're doing this! Sex. That's what it is and that's what it always has been. We don't have to like each other for that," Gail said, finally leaning up on her elbows and looking at Frankie.  
Frankie knew that Gail was trying too hard, hiding some sort of underlying pain. Gail didn't like her either and Frankie knew that. But Gail was going above and beyond in the protest.  
"If you want to date, if you want to fall in love or whatever, go for it. I'm not keeping you here," Gail said, a little less punch to her voice now.   
Frankie crawled in to bed anyway.


	5. Chapter 5

The sun peeking though the curtain roused Gail into an irritated state of wake. She rubbed her eyes and groaned to herself, reaching for her cell phone immediately as she did upon waking every morning. No missed calls. No missed texts. In fact the only notification she had was from the ESPN app that Holly had installed a year ago. Gail hadn't been able to bring herself to delete it. She sighed, dropped her phone back onto the nightstand and rolled over to find an empty space beside her.   
Gail sat up slightly and looked around the dimly lit room. All was quiet and still, as though no one had been in the room with her the night before. She wasn't sure if she felt that was a blessing or a curse. She fell back onto the pillow and stared at the ceiling for a moment, eventually picking up her cell phone again and going to her text messages. The first in the list of conversations was Holly, as it always had been. Since their first text, over two years ago, Gail had never deleted a single one.   
"I miss you," she typed out. She stared at the plain letters on the screen for three solid minutes before backspacing them away.   
Gail clumsily got out of the bed and found some shorts to pull on before making her way out to the kitchen. She was surprised to find Frankie on the couch, sipping coffee in silence. She looked pensive and sad. Gail thought about their conversation from the night before and a strange, almost pain fluttered across her chest.  
"Whatcha doing?" Gail asked lightly, approaching the couch but not getting too near.  
"Ah, nothing," Frankie sat up straighter suddenly, startled by Gail's presence. "Just having come coffee. I hope you don't mind," she added, feeling like she had really over-stayed her welcome at this point.  
"No, not at all. That just means I don't have to wait for it to brew," Gail chuckled, going and pouring herself a cup.   
Frankie stayed silent, fidgeting slightly under Gail's gaze.   
"We're off today," Gail said abruptly.  
"Yeah," Frankie half-laughed. "I know, Gail."  
"So why don't you come back to bed?" she asked, raising her eyebrow slightly and motioning to the room.  
Frankie was stunned into confusion. That was not the sort of thing that Gail proposed, ever. Normally they didn't even speak in the mornings, let alone go 'back to bed.' To Frankie it became evident that Gail would be more direct, more herself, when others weren't around. Had anyone else in the apartment been awake Frankie was certain the conversation would not have gone this way, had a conversation occurred at all.  
"I actually have to go," Frankie told her, rising from the couch and going to get her bag out of the kitchen. "I have a lot that I want to get done today."  
"Oh..." To say that Gail was stunned would have been an understatement. She was also humiliated, not that she would admit that. Throughout this entire situation the ball had been in her court and that's the way she liked it. That's the only way she'd have it. But this...this was unexpected.  
"But, uh, thanks for the offer," Frankie nodded casually as she walked out of the apartment.

xxx

Gail was curled up on the couch in silence when Dov and Chloe came out of his room, both looking awake and ready for their days. They regarded Gail politely and went immediately to the coffee pot, per usual. It was apparent that they were looking around the room subtly, noticing that something (someone) was missing. Dov even peeked around to the bathroom to see if the door was shut. It wasn't.   
"So..." Chloe started, and Gail sighed before the words were even out of the girl's mouth. "Where's Cranky Pants?" She consciously used the nickname instead of Frankie's actual name, hoping it would lessen the blow of her being brought up.  
"She was busy," Gail shot out quickly, letting them know without question that it would be the end of the conversation.  
"What are you going to do today?" Chloe changed the subject, perching on the couch next to the obviously sullen girl.   
"The plan is nothing. A lot of it," she answered, picking up her phone and looking at it again.   
"Well do you want to go to the gym? Or on a hike?" Chloe asked happily. "I have all this energy and I'm not sure which I--"  
"No, Chloe. I do not want to go to the gym. Or on a hike. I already told you what I was doing today," Gail snapped, grabbing her phone and walking to her bedroom without another word.  
Dov and Chloe looked at each other, concerned.  
"Is it just me or is it getting worse?" Dov asked in a whisper as he approached.  
"It's totally getting worse," Chloe sighed, honestly worried about her friend.   
Despite their volatile relationship, Chloe had grown to love Gail through the years. She knew that Gail had grown to love her, too, even if the other would never admit it. When they were good, they were great friends. When they were bad Chloe knew that something was really wrong.   
She considered knocking on Gail's door, pestering her under she talked about what was bothering her. Chloe had gotten close enough with Gail to know when that was what the woman needed and when it absolutely wasn't. Right now it was the latter.  
Dov kissed Chloe goodbye before heading out to a meeting with his new Detective in Training friends, leaving her to contemplate her day. She really did have energy to expend. She also had her own apartment that she really needed to tend to. She gathered her things and prepared to go home. Before she left she made a point to knock lightly on Gail's door.  
"I just wanted to tell you I'm going home. I'm there if you need me, Gail," she called quietly through the closed door. She didn't expect a response but she heard a faint 'Thank you,' as she walked out.

xxx

The energy that Chloe needed to expend was utilized on almost obsessively cleaning her apartment. She hadn't been spending much time there and it showed. Dust, vacuum, dishes, change of sheets. By the time she was done, hours had passed and it felt like home again. She actually missed it. She thought about what to make for dinner, now that her kitchen was clean.  
Chloe sat back onto the couch and picked up her phone, preparing to look through recipes and wondering if she had heard from anyone, hoping she had heard from Gail. At least her friend knew that she was there if she needed her. That was all Chloe could do. She scrolled through her contacts and came across Holly's name. It would be so easy to send the displaced woman a text. Start a conversation that would lead to Gail. Chloe's decision making had always been spontaneous, which didn't always work out well for herself or others. The idea that Holly was really done with Gail crossed her mind. If she sent that text but Holly had moved on it would only make everything worse. So she didn't.   
The whole situation with Gail had grown so much more involved than Chloe would ever have guessed. Losing Holly obviously affected Gail greatly. Losing Sophie only made it worse. Now this whole Frankie spiral seemed like Gail's retaliation toward herself and the universe. Chloe wished that she knew that it wouldn't help her heal.   
The fact that the cranky detective was absent this morning only made Chloe more curious. Maybe she and Gail had had a fight? They fought almost every day and Gail had never seemed fased by it before. Was Gail upset about Holly or Frankie today?   
"This lesbian shit is intense," Chloe said aloud to no one, laughing at her reference.   
If Gail and Frankie had a fight, she wondered what it could have been about. She thought back to the conversation that she had with Frankie the previous night; the conversation that Frankie, seemingly, willingly initiated. The woman was sick of being used and Chloe didn't blame her. Chloe would like to think that she would never allow herself to be in such a situation to begin with but she knew better than to predict something like that. She wondered if Frankie told Gail how she felt. Chloe knew that it wouldn't have gone well if she had.  
Without conscious thought, Chloe brought up Frankie's number in her cell phone. This wasn't like texting Holly; it wouldn't be life altering to anyone. The worst case scenario was that she would piss off the detective, which was already a daily occurrence. What did she have to lose?  
"You ok?" Simple. Direct. If Frankie didn't want to answer, she could just ignore it.  
Just a few minutes later Chloe's phone beeped, surprising her greatly.   
"Why the hell would you ask that, muppet?" was Frankie's response.  
So much for just not answering.  
"I didn't see you this morning," Chloe typed.  
"So what?" - F.  
"Gail seemed upset. I didn't see you. I just wanted to make sure you were ok. After our talk last night." - C.  
"Forget the talk. It was stupid. And don't worry about not seeing me." - F.  
Everybody was just a bundle of joy today.  
"Whatever. I won't. Sue me for worrying." - C.  
Chloe stood and went to the kitchen, her blood pressure high from all the negative energy surrounding her life at the moment. She knew that she got too involved but that was just her nature. She cared about those around her and she always had. Sometimes too much. Sometimes enough to disrupt her own life. She hated that.  
Her phone beeped again as she pulled out a bottle of wine, planning to have a glass, read and relax.  
"I'm going to the Penny for dinner." - F.  
"In half an hour." - F.  
Chloe smiled and shook her head at the stubborn and vulnerable detective. People always made fun of her for being like a child but her friends took the cake when it came to temper tantrums and mood swings. She knew that if she replied something that implied she would be there then the 'invitation' would be revoked.   
"Ok." 

xxx

Gail hadn't gotten dressed all day. She was perfectly pleased with that. The apartment had been empty for hours, which only pleased her more. For a while she had actually allowed herself to cry. It didn't happen often but when it did, it really did. She felt lost, which was something Gail Peck was not used to.  
At 6:37PM Gail picked up her phone and decided she didn't have anything to lose. She was alone, crying in her pajamas. Holly was already in San Francisco. It really couldn't get any worse.  
"How are you doing? I'd really like to hear from you, if you have a chance." Gail texted, setting her phone down at her side and throwing her arm over her eyes as she fought off tears.   
Even if she heard from Holly it's not like it would change anything. Gail wondered why she wasn't over this by now. Her entire life she had been resilient. Get knocked down, get back up, emotionally or otherwise. Nothing had ever knocked her down like Holly Stewart had. When she left, Gail was devastated but she knew that eventually she'd get back up like she always had. Except now a year had passed and she was still on the ground.  
At 7:03PM Gail's phone beeped. She pretended she was calm in her head but had anyone been there they would have seen her practically tackle her phone to the ground.  
"Sorry I just got this. I was working late. How are you Gail? I saw a lunchbox today and thought of you." - H.  
The smile that spread across Gail's face was one that she hadn't felt the magnitude of in months. It was a simple text. It wasn't like Holly said she was coming back to Toronto or anything like that, but to Gail it was everything. Like some of the weight that had been on her chest for months was starting to lift.   
Gail was so busy being okay for a moment that she didn't respond immediately. Her phone beeped again.  
"Can I call you later? In a couple hours? I don't want it to be too late there." - H.  
Gail smiled again. "Absolutely."

xxx

The Penny was just quiet enough to make Chloe feel comfortable walking in alone. That was a rare occurrence since she was always there with people from Fifteen, at least Dov. There were a few folks at the bar and only one table taken by a couple. She was intentionally late, hoping not to beat Frankie there and look like she was waiting for her. This whole daycare game was exhausting. Frankie kind of indirectly invited Chloe to the Penny, implying that she wanted to talk (at least Chloe assumed that's what she implied). But if Chloe had readily accepted the invitation Frankie would have run away again. And now Chloe was standing in a bar, by herself, waiting for a woman that was rude to her ninety percent of the time and saw her as her only confidant the other ten. Chloe blew the hair out of her face and ordered a beer.  
"I see why you're not a detective, Muppet," Frankie said, suddenly at her side at the bar.  
"Jesus!" Chloe gasp, startled by the sudden presence.   
"I'm in the back booth. You didn't look too close, huh?" she laughed, smacking Chloe on the arm affectionately.   
"I- I thought I did. I didn't see you," Chloe said, taking her beer and walking to the back with Frankie.  
"Evidently."  
They sat down in the quiet booth and sipped their beers in silence for a few solid minutes. Chloe wanted Frankie to have control of this conversation. She knew that's the only way it would be a success. Chloe had to tame her bold, direct personality this time.  
After five minutes, the awkwardness became overbearing.  
"How was your day?" they said simultaneously, looking at each other oddly for a second before laughing out loud.  
"It was getting weird, huh?" Frankie laughed.  
"Yeah," Chloe nodded. "Two minutes of silence I can handle. Five? That's the limit."  
"Fair," Frankie nodded.   
"So..." Chloe said with a rolling hand motion, waiting.  
"I know you're expecting me to start a conversation but I honestly don't even know what to say," Frankie admitted, scratching her temple and staring at the bubbles in her beer.  
"Just pretend I'm not here," Chloe said seriously, causing Frankie to look up, confused. "Like, have the conversation as though you're just talking about it to yourself."  
"Well I coulda done that at home. With Scotch," Frankie noted.  
"I'm way better than Scotch," Chloe grinned. "Just try it. What are you feeling right now?"  
"Aside from the Muppet-shaped pain in my ass, you mean?"  
"Ha ha," Chloe rolled her eyes. "Go on," she rolled her hand again, saying 'get on with it' without saying it.  
"What did you do today?" Frankie asked, not quite able to just jump into her feelings.  
"Not much," Chloe admitted. "Cleaned my apartment and thought about my lesbi-friends," she said, honestly.  
"My, my, Muppet! I didn't think I'd see your freaky side for a few weeks, at least!" Frankie teased her, clinking her glass to Chloe's with a smirk.  
"Uh- you- dammit! You know that's not what I meant!" but the blush was creeping up her neck already. She hadn't meant for it to come out like that, particularly in the company of someone who would thrive on calling her out about it. "I meant you children, you and Gail. I might be a muppet but you two are in pre-school!"  
"I'm not upset about Gail. Not really," Frankie told her, the segue to the real conversation successful. She swirled her beer in her glass and looked like she wanted to say more.  
"So what are you upset about?"  
"The situation, I guess. I never realised how fucked up it was until last night."  
"Did you talk to her about it?" Chloe asked, finishing her beer and setting the glass to the side.  
"I- almost. I tried, I guess," Frankie shrugged, avoiding Chloe's eyes again.  
"And...?"  
"I'm an idiot."  
"Why would you say that?" Chloe asked, brow furrowed.  
"Because I slept with her anyway."  
Chloe saw the pain in Frankie's eyes in the few moments that she would allow them to meet hers. She saw the shame behind them.   
"That's why you weren't there this morning." It was a statement, not a question.  
"I was up early. Sat on the couch and thought about everything until Gail got up. She told me to come back to bed," Frankie looked up for a split second to see the surprise on Chloe's face.  
"And?"  
"I told her I had to go. I got out of there pretty quick. And you know what's fucked up? When I walked away from her, I felt like I was winning for once. Like it's a goddamn game," she shook her head and finished her beer.  
"It is a game," Chloe said, not trying to be harsh, just honest.  
"Last night I asked her what we were doing and she was just so annoyed that I even brought it up, ya know? So Gail about it. She said it was sex. I knew that, she knew that, and if I wanted more then I should go find it with someone else."  
"Ouch," Chloe grimaced before waving the server for two more beers.  
"And then I had sex with her anyway," Frankie threw her hands up in frustration.  
"So you felt like she won."  
"She did fucking win! I should have left right then," Frankie gulped some of her new beer. "I woke up this morning feeling so stupid. It is just sex, but that's not even worth the feeling I had this morning."  
"I'll tell you the same thing I told Gail: You could be having sex with lots of different women. It doesn't have to be her. Why her?" Chloe asked, taking it all in.  
"I don't know. It's easy?"  
"Oh God, you two are like the same person and it's disgusting," Chloe shook her head at their similarities. "Are you heartbroken? Are you damaged from a previous relationship?" The firing squad was coming out now.  
"No, why?" Frankie chuckled at Chloe's sudden intensity.  
"Then there's no fucking excuse!" she slammed her fist on the table. "Gail has Holly to hide behind. If you're not heartbroken then try harder. Find a decent girl that doesn't just get into yelling matches with you, or use you for sex, or think she has all the power. Try harder!"  
"Who's Holly?"

xxx


	6. Chapter 6

"But they didn't have some awful, Lifetime movie break-up?" Frankie asked, thoroughly confused. Through three more beers and a shot of Patron, Chloe had gone over most of the key points of 'Office Lunchbox'.   
"It didn't end terribly, I guess, but it ended. She was Gail's only hope," Chloe sighed. "In Gail's eyes, I mean. Not me. I'm sure Gail could find a nice girl and fall in love again and--"  
"Got it," Frankie chuckled, holding a hand up to stop the increasingly intoxicated Muppet's rant. "Big, tough Gail Peck actually let someone in only to have to her heart crushed," she simplified, making Chloe wish she had said it so directly an hour ago.   
"Exactly!" Chloe smacked the table. "She doesn't like to talk about it though," she added quietly.  
"It does...make sense, I guess," Frankie contemplated, having another drink of her beer. "I just thought she was heartless. It's kind of nice to know that she's not."  
"She's definitely not. Gail's great. She just really doesn't like it when people know that," Chloe smiled.  
Chloe's phone beeped a text notification, bringing her back to the real world; the girl had gotten sucked in to the dark booth, the alcohol and the captivating conversation with Frankie. She looked at the detective apologetically before turning her phone over and seeing the time: 11:13PM  
"Holy crap it got late!" Chloe exclaimed, earning a laugh from Frankie.  
"Muppet..." she muttered quietly.  
Chloe opened her text app to see that she had missed three from Dov. How had she not heard the first two?   
8:32PM: "I'm home. Are you coming over tonight? Hope so ;) " - D.  
9:54PM: "Maybe you fell asleep? Let me know." - D.  
11:11PM: "Are you ok? I'm getting worried. I hope you come over when you get this." - D.  
Chloe laughed out loud at the texts even though she wasn't completely sure why. Dov and his concern were amusing to her. She had been shot, stuck in a fire and almost blown up in recent years, she reasoned but that was only at work. He shouldn't be worried on their day off.   
Instead of explaining her laughter to Frankie she simply handed her phone over for the girl to see. Frankie looked at the screen for a moment before raising her eyes to Chloe skeptically.  
"Somebody's in trouble..." she sang, handing the phone back.  
"Ha! Yeah, right," Chloe chuckled, beginning to dance in her seat by herself. "I'll just go over there and tell him that he is an old man worrier and he needs to calm down. And then I'll go to bed like an old lady because we have work in the morning," she smiled so brightly that it made Frankie laugh.  
"You're really gonna go over there now?" Frankie asked, eyebrow raised.  
"Yeah, why?" Chloe asked, rifling through her purse for her wallet.  
"Muppet, I think you're a little more drunk than you realise," she told her bluntly.  
"Naw, I'm fine!" she answered, too dramatically. "I've only had..." she counted on her fingers, "Four?" she pondered. "Four, right? And a shot," she nodded.  
"On a school night!" Frankie teased.  
Chloe was nowhere near hammered. She was, however, more intoxicated than she knew. Bedtime was a good idea. Facing the boyfriend before it? Maybe not.  
"I appreciate your concern, Detective Cranky Pants. But I'll be fine," Chloe smiled. "What about you? Are you fine?" she got wide eyed and worried.  
"I'm fine, Chlo. And I know you are too, I just don't want you to get in trouble," Frankie shrugged as though she was feigning detachment.  
"You said my name..." Chloe smiled happily. "Almost."   
"Oh God," Frankie groaned, face palming. "Go home and go to bed, old lady Muppet."  
"I shall," Chloe stood and literally curtsied, hugged Frankie roughly and cautiously walked away.

xxx

"Hello, boyfriend," Chloe sang into the hallway of the apartment as she entered to find Dov sitting in the living room with Gail. "And Gail."  
"Ooohhh....someone's drunk," Gail grinning maniacally, sticking her tongue out and doing a little dance.   
"And someone's in a better mood," Chloe noted, sitting on the couch next to Gail and smiling at Dov like he was an ice cream sandwich.   
Gail just smiled slightly and nodded.  
"Seriously, Chloe? I thought you were going to your apartment?" Dov said sternly, interrupting whatever conversation she and Gail were potentially about to have.  
"I did," Chloe told him, looking around like she was on Candid Camera or something. Was he actually mad?  
"I texted you three times before you got back. Did you just sit at home and drink by yourself?" he asked, his concern coming across more aggressively than he realised.  
"No... And even if I had, so what?" Chloe challenged, causing Gail to smirk proudly.  
"You stay out of this!" he pointed at Gail, catching her smirk.   
"Really, Dov? I was on this couch before either of you," she pointed out, not angry but kind of in awe.   
"So you just go out drinking by yourself now? Or maybe you weren't by yourself" Dov asked defensively, though slightly more calm thanks to Gail's minor reality check.  
"God, Dov. I was just with Frankie. Get over yourself," Chloe told him, shaking her head and seriously considering just going back home. Frankie was right. She was worried about Chloe getting in 'trouble' and now here she was.  
"Frankie?!" Dov exclaimed, shocked.  
Gail was surprised as well but knew to keep her mouth shut in this particular instance.  
"Yes, Dov. Frankie. Remember her?"  
"You don't have to have an attitude about it," Dov said quietly.  
"Me?! An attitude?" Chloe scoffed.   
"Why the hell would you be out with Frankie?" Dov asked, throwing his hands up in frustration.   
"Why not? I think we're friends now," Chloe said, but she turned to Gail instead of Dov. Gail only nodded, unsure if she should be proud (Chloe seemed proud) or happy for her friend.   
"So you go to your apartment and then decide to go out and get drunk with Frankie, someone you barely even know, and ignore my texts?"   
"Okay, dude, I know you told me to stay out of this, but I'm stepping in," Gail warned. "Chloe can go out with whoever she wants, whenever she wants. Whatever you're doing right now, it's not you and as your friend, it needs to stop."  
"Thank you," Chloe smiled at Gail. "We were just supposed to be going out to dinner and then we got to talking and --"   
"Chloe, stop while you're ahead, man," Gail said, biting her lip to keep from laughing out loud at Chloe's dig-a-hole ramble and the look on Dov's face.   
"I told her about Holly," Chloe piped up suddenly, only looking at Gail now.  
Gail paled visibly. That was the absolute last thing that she expected to come out of Drunk Chloe's mouth. She furrowed her brow and contemplated her reaction.   
"Um...why?" was all she could come up with.  
"It was an accident, mostly," Chloe admitted, leaning back into the couch and relaxing slightly. "We were talking about you, and Frankie, and girls. I told Frankie that I thought she could get herself a nice girl if she wanted. Not that you're not a nice girl. That's not what I mean. You know. Don't you think Frankie could meet a nice girl if she got her cranky head out of her ass once in a while?"  
Any anger or embarrassment Gail had begun to feel was washing away with each drunk, stupid thing that Chloe said.   
"Holly, Chloe. Get back to Holly."  
"Right," Chloe nodded. "Well I asked if Frankie was heartbroken. Like not over someone. She said no so I told her to try fucking harder, you know?" Gail kind of nodded. "Like with you, I get why you're not trying to date or whatever. But with Frankie there's no excuse. I think Frankie gets where you're coming from a little bit more now. Not that you care about that at all," she added defensively, not trying to make Gail angry.   
"Oh Chloe," Gail actually smiled, sincerely. "You're a good friend. You're kind of a drunk idiot, but you're a good friend."  
Chloe's smile beamed. She reached across the couch and squeezed Gail into a bear hug.  
"What the hell is the matter with you, Chloe?" Dov said suddenly, breaking the girl's embrace with her still unwilling to hug friend. "For months now all you talk about is Gail and Frankie. What they're doing. Why they're doing it. At first it was just some sort of irritating project but now you're like analysing their lives. Getting drunk with Frankie. You know you're not actually a shrink, right?" he asked, standing and beginning to pace. "If you paid half as much attention to me as--"  
"Hold on," Chloe stopped him, standing as well. "Ever since you got Detective in Training you're out with all your new friends all the time. Have you ever once heard me complain about that? Have I ever asked you where you were or who you were with? Have I ever accused you of ignoring my text messages because you were out with your friends?"   
Gail sat and watched the match, concerned but still oddly entertained.  
"No, but only because you don't care as much," he told her.  
"You get to decide who cares more? That's cute, Dov. Super cute," Chloe shook her head, getting angrier by the moment as she sobered up. "Let's get honest then, okay? You want to go and do whatever you want with your friends and you expect me to be sitting here waiting for you when you get home. That's not me. It never has been and you know it. You do what you wanna do and I'm going to do what I want to do. The only difference is I'm not dick enough to try to make you feel bad about it."  
Chloe gathered her things from the couch, touched Gail's shoulder and quietly said, "Text me," before walking out of the apartment, leaving Dov standing there speechless.   
"Wow..." Gail said quietly once Chloe was out of the apartment.  
"Right? What's gotten into her?" Dov said, shaking his head and trying to take it all in. "And isn't it kind of messed up that our girls are spending time together instead of with us?"  
"Ah!" Gail put her hand up. "Stop right there, Epstein. Frankie is not my girl. She is free to go to dinner with Chloe or whoever else she wants."  
"That's the problem, Gail!" Dov nearly screamed, stepping closer to her. "If you weren't all about this 'game' with Frankie then I wouldn't be in this situation right now!"  
"Excuse me? How does what I do with Frankie have anything to do with you?" Gail was heated now. Dov had said some stupid things to Chloe and Gail was proud that the girl had stood up for herself. But for her friend to now turn it on her was appalling.  
"You're so immature. Ever since you started sleeping with Frankie it's all Chloe talks about. If Frankie wasn't here all the goddamn time then she and Chloe wouldn't be hanging out."  
"Wow..." Gail laughed thickly and shook her head. "That's really something, Dov. You're pissed because your girlfriend went out to dinner; that's fucked up in itself. But then to make the full circle of blame and turn it into my fault? That's delusional. If you have problems with Chloe maybe you should start asking yourself what you could be doing differently."  
"Says the master of relationships, right?" he shot without considering the consequences.  
"Fuck you, Dov," Gail said, livid. "You need to grow some balls and grow the fuck up or you're going to lose her. And me."   
Gail was all the way to her bedroom doorway before she called back, "And thanks for ruining my fucking good mood!"

xxx

Chloe was pacing around her kitchen holding an unopened bottle of vodka, swearing to herself under her breath. She couldn't believe the way that Dov was acting tonight. She couldn't decide if she was more upset about how he was acting or about the fact that she had evidently always lived up to his unfair, unrealistic girlfriend ideals until tonight. She wasn't allowed to go out with a friend? She went out with her friends all the time. Chloe wondered if it would have been different if the person in question wasn't Frankie.  
Dov never seemed to have a problem with Frankie in the past. They all had conversations over morning coffee, or at work, often. Chloe couldn't wrap her head around where this was coming from. She willed herself to stop thinking about it, to stop caring, but she looked at the bottle of vodka in her hand and sighed.  
Chloe knew that she had already had enough to drink for the night. The alarm would wake her early the next morning and she just needed to get to bed, if only she could stop being angry long enough to relax. She thought about Frankie, worrying that she would get in trouble and telling her that she was more intoxicated than she realised. That was hours ago. She put the bottle back in the cabinet.  
The Spice Girls ringtone that Chloe had chosen went off suddenly and the girl swore aloud, assuming it was Dov and having every intention of declining the call. She was surprised to see Gail's name on the screen. Chloe sighed. She really hoped that Gail wasn't on Dov's side, calling to tell Chloe what a fuck up she was.  
"Hello?" Chloe said quietly, the irritation apparent in her voice even though she tried to mask it.   
"I talked to Holly today," Gail said. She sounded tired but Chloe could still hear her smile through the phone.  
"You did?!" Chloe was ecstatic for her friend and also very happy that Gail wanted to share it with her.  
"Yep. And your cunt of a boyfriend almost ruined all of my happiness about it. So I wanted to call and tell you so that I didn't let him," Gail laughed.  
"That's awesome, Gail. Tell me everything. And I'm sorry about him," Chloe said sadly.  
"Don't apologise for him," Gail told her sternly. "So yeah, I figured I didn't have anything to lose so I texted her today. She made a joke about seeing a lunchbox and asked if she could call me."  
Gail's audible smile was back.   
"How'd it go?!"   
"Good," Gail nodded. "I think it went really good. We talked for like an hour. Not really about anything, but you know."  
"She misses you," Chloe stated. She may not have heard that from Holly directly but that didn't make it any less true.  
"I think she does," Gail grinned. "I kept telling myself that she didn't, that she was just over it, but hearing her voice tonight... I think she's going to come visit soon."  
"Yes! Gail that's incredible. You have to find out when so we can plan this like, perfect date." Chloe had completely forgotten about Dov the Dick.  
"Okay, girlie. Geez. Hold on to that Babysitters Club bullshit. I don't even know if she's coming yet," Gail chuckled.   
"Okay but if she does I'll be damned if you're just going to sit in the frat house the whole time. We need to plan!"  
"Speaking of dates..." Gail began, causing Chloe to think she was secretly planning her Holly visit already, "How was dinner with Frankie?"  
Chloe could actually hear the smirk on the other line.


	7. Chapter 7

"It was NOT a date!" Chloe argued, swiveling around in her chair, away from Gail, trying to focus on the evidence report in front of her.  
Two days had passed and Gail had still not let it go, partially because it was nice to be up in Chloe's business for once, instead of the other way around. Mostly, Gail just loved to make the girl squirm. Even though she knew it (probably) wasn't a date, the blush and ramble she received in reaction every time she brought it up was worth it.   
"Does she know that it wasn't a date?" Gail asked, turning Chloe's chair back around to face her.  
"Yes she knows it wasn't a date!" Chloe squeaked. "It was just dinner. We're just friends, Gail."  
"We're not friends," Frankie said flatly, suddenly behind them en route across the office.  
Chloe reddened instantly, causing Gail to chuckle.  
"Wh-- what would make you think we were talking about you?" Chloe stuttered out, meeting the woman's eyes reluctantly.  
"Why wouldn't you be talking about me, Muppet?" Frankie smirked, throwing a wink over her shoulder as she walked away.  
"HA!" Gail said loudly, pointing at Chloe and her blush.  
"There is no 'ha'!" Chloe argued, eyes wide.  
"There is so a 'ha'," Gail laughed, shaking her head.  
"Gail, how long have we known each other?"  
"Too long."  
"Exactly. And in that time have you ever known me to be attracted to a woman?" Chloe asked, a solid defense.  
"No. But there are plenty of things that I may not have 'known' you to do. Doesn't mean you don't do them," Gail countered.  
"You do remember that I have a boyfriend, right?" Next argument.  
"So what?"  
"So what? So you're telling me that if you and Holly were together--"  
"I'll stop you right there," Gail said, putting a hand up. "You and Dov are no me and Holly."  
Chloe couldn't even fight that one.  
"It wasn't a date," Chloe said, defeated.  
"You know I just like to give you shit, right?" Gail said, softening slightly. "Have you worked things out with Dov yet?"  
"Have you seen me at your apartment for two days?"   
"Geez, touchy. I just assumed you were at Frankie's," she smirked.

xxx

"Where are you?" - F.  
The following week, a text notification surprised Chloe as she sat on the bench, drying her hair after a much needed shower. It was still warm for early fall and running around the city in her uniform never led to smelling nicely.  
"Locker room." - C.   
Chloe wondered for a moment what the text was about. She and Frankie didn't really text that often, aside from the occasional late night conversation in the event that they weren't at the same place at the same time. It was more strange for Frankie to ask about her location instead of just texting whatever it was she wanted to discuss.  
Before Chloe had time to overthink it Frankie appeared, walking up confidently and dropping herself onto the bench next to Chloe.  
"I'm bored," she almost whined, lying back across the bench.  
"You haven't even left work yet," Chloe chuckled, suddenly glad that she was in a tank top and jeans instead of ... less.   
"I don't mean this second, Muppet. I mean in general. I'm sick of the Penny. That's all we ever do," Frankie said, full-on whine this time.  
"We went to that restaurant last week," Chloe countered, seeing Gail's head pop out from behind the other row of lockers with a wide smirk on her face. She shook her head and pointed at Gail in warning.  
"Yeah. It was nice there," Frankie said, nodding though her head was lying flat on the bench and she wasn't looking at Chloe. "But I mean for drunken fun times," she clarified.  
"Okay..." Chloe balled up her towel and went to her locker to find an actual shirt, waiting for Frankie to elaborated.  
"I want to get 'Chloe-Drunk'," she told her, turning her head just enough to look her in the eye.   
Since their first 'dinner', getting drunk had been referred to as 'Chloe-Drunk.' It's namesake still wasn't sure how she felt about the term.  
"There's a new club that opened up downtown a few weeks ago. I want to go there tonight," Frankie finished, direct as ever.  
"Is it a gay club?" Gail asked suddenly, fully peeking around the lockers.  
If Frankie was startled she didn't show it.  
"Are you making another gay joke, Peck? Didn't we already argue about how that's kind of in bad taste?" Frankie asked, turning her head to the side to see the blond woman peering.  
"It wasn't a gay joke," Gail told her seriously. "I really just wanted to know if it was a gay club," she shrugged, walking around to their side of the lockers with Andy a few feet behind her.  
"Naw," Frankie shook her head, obviously knowing that Gail was being sincere. "Gay clubs around here suck. They're all drag queens and beards."   
Chloe busied herself in the locker as though the entire conversation was not going on around her. She dug to the bottom then dug again, never seeming to find whatever it was she was searching for. What was she searching for? Oh right, a shirt.  
"You guys wanna come with us?" Frankie asked, propping herself up on her elbows and looking at Gail and Andy.   
Chloe turned to her for a moment, her eyes stating that she herself had never technically agreed to go to any club. Frankie got the message but simply smiled in response.   
"We wouldn't want to crash your party," Gail said, grinning at Chloe.  
"It'll be fun," Frankie promised, even though she had never even been to the club.  
"I'm in," Andy nodded, seeming pleased with the idea. "I haven't gotten wasted in a while."  
"That's the spirit!" Frankie laughed.  
Chloe was still reserved. She eventually found her shirt and sat on the bench as she buttoned it up. Gail and Andy had wandered away and Frankie's tone changed.  
"Are you worried you're going to get in trouble?" she asked quietly, seeing Chloe's hesitation and not understanding it's root.  
"No!" Chloe said defensively. "I wasn't worried last time and I'm not now."  
"But last time you did get in trouble," Frankie countered.   
"Yeah, for no reason. I do what I want to do," she told her, standing and smoothing her shirt before picking up her bag.  
"So do you want to go to this club with me tonight?" Frankie asked quietly. "It's okay if you don't."  
"No. I'm totally in," she smiled, bumping Frankie's arm with her elbow. "Let's get 'Chloe-Drunk'".

xxx

"This place is a lot busier than I imagined," Andy said, wide-eyed as they made their way through the club. It was packed with sweaty, grinding twenty-somethings and they felt at least a little out of place.  
"It only opened last month. And it's a Friday," Frankie shrugged, seeking out the bar amongst the people.   
"Drinks," Gail stated in a demanding, caveman tone, her eyes flitted back and forth through the crowd.  
"Yes," Frankie agreed, seeing the bar in the corner and pointing to it.  
Chloe hung back slightly, feeling uncomfortable despite her bubbly, people-oriented personality. This was a bit extreme, even for her. She had put a lot of thought and effort (perhaps too much) into her outfit and she left the house feeling confident. She was feeling a little less confident now.  
"You with us, Chlo?" Frankie asked suddenly, stopping to make sure the girl was near.  
Andy looked to Gail questioningly but Gail just shrugged it off.  
"Drinks," Chloe reiterated, walking up next to Frankie.  
The bar was less crowded than the rest of the club, a blessing. Frankie looked to the other three for only a moment before ordering four tequila shots. No one argued. They each ordered their own drink of choice and found seats, taking a moment to regroup and take it all in.  
"You sure this isn't a gay club?" Gail chuckled, pointed out too men aggressively making out in the corner.  
"We're lucky to live in a society where any bar can be a gay bar," Frankie chuckled. They toasted to that.  
It wasn't long before a tall, dark-haired and beautiful woman approached them, looking only at Gail. She had her smile on before she was within three feet of the group.  
"Hey," the woman said, acting casual, looking at Gail like she was dessert.  
"Hello," Gail threw out awkwardly, sipping her drink and looking to her friends for backup. Unfortunately her friends had literally backed up in order to make room for the stranger.  
"I've never seen you here before," she said, leaning a little closer.  
'Oh God, one of those?' Gail thought. 'Not even an attempt at an original pick up line.'  
"I've never been here before," Gail told her, tone flat.  
"Good reason," the woman chuckled. "I was wondering if you wanted to dance with me?" Cut right to the chase.  
"Um, I'm sorry but no thank you. I don't dance and I'm here with my friends, so..."   
"Oh. Okay. Well if you change your mind, my name is Caroline," she said, extending her hand, which Gail reluctantly shook.  
After lingering for only a moment, Caroline disappeared back into the crowd and Andy, Chloe and Frankie returned to their positions next to Gail, each looking at her expectantly.  
"What?" Gail asked, irritated.  
"We've been here all of," Andy looked at her watch, "thirty minutes and you already got hit on."  
"By a lady, no less," Chloe added.  
"A hot lady," Frankie said quietly.   
"So? I mean, I might not be very personably but I'd like to think I'm usually okay to look at..." Gail rolled her eyes.   
"How'd she even spot you through all these people?" Chloe asked. "Her gay-dar must be some NASA shit."  
"We need more tequila."

xxx

After a few more shots and another rum and coke, Gail's 'I don't dance' had become a blatant lie. She saw Caroline across the room as she danced with all three of her friends and chuckled to herself.  
"Why'd you say no?" Frankie asked suddenly over the music, seeing Gail notice the woman the hit on her.  
"What?" Gail furrowed her brow, confused.  
"The chick. She was hot. Why didn't you dance with her?"  
Gail shrugged. "Just wasn't feeling it."   
"Because of Holly?" Frankie asked, surprising Gail.  
Chloe admitted that she had told Frankie about Holly. That didn't mean that she and her ex-friend-with-benefits would ever have to have an actual conversation about her.  
Gail sighed loudly and dramatically, rolling her eyes.  
"I'm not trying to be rude, Gail. I was just wondering," Frankie told her, watching Chloe and Andy dance awkwardly behind them, out of earshot.  
"Yeah, okay? I don't want to be with anyone but Holly. Not even to dance. Are you happy now?" Gail spat.   
"I wasn't trying to make you admit it. I've just never felt that way about anyone before. I can't imagine. I think it's kind of awesome," Frankie admitted, shrugging to seem nonchalant. "Oooh you should text her!" she decided suddenly, even slapping Gail on the arm excitedly.  
Gail had to laugh. "Why would I do that?"  
"Tell her some chick just hit on you like three hot minutes after we got here. It'll be great."  
"To make her jealous?" Gail asked, not fully understanding.  
"Not...necessarily," Frankie contemplated. "Kind of to make a big joke out of it. Let her know that dancing with the chick wasn't even an option. Don't say that directly though; that's cheesy. And if you in turn, accidentally make her jealous..."  
Gail smirked and thought about what the woman was suggesting.  
"You know what? That might not be a terrible idea."

xxx

"Drink..." Chloe whined, sweaty, as she walked across the dance floor and put her forehead on Frankie's shoulder.  
Frankie chuckled. Gail and Andy were already at the bar but Frankie and Chloe had yet to cease the dancing.  
"You sure about that, little muppet?" she asked, wrapping an arm around the girl's waist naturally.  
"I'm not 'Chloe-Drunk,' I promise. I'm just sweaty and gross and it's only twelve thirty," Chloe told her, smiling.   
"Then drinks it is," Frankie laughed, still swaying slightly to the music as Chloe moved with her. 

xxx

"So..." Andy said slowly, interrupting Gail from her text conversation.  
"Sorry," Gail said sheepishly. "Bad social etiquette or whatever, right?" she asked, putting her phone in her pocket.  
"No, not that. I don't care about that," Andy scoffed. "Them," she corrected, nodding to Frankie and Chloe on the dance floor. They weren't really 'dancing' but Frankie's arm was around Chloe's waist and Chloe appeared to be playing with Frankie's hair.  
"What about them?" Gail asked calmly, finishing another drink.  
"Are they, like...together? I mean, I heard Frankie ask Chloe out tonight. I didn't think we were crashing a date, though."  
"We're not. No, they're not together," Gail laughed, watching the two women on the floor for a moment. "I don't think..."  
"Yeah, I'm not really sure I'm buying that," Andy laughed as they watched Chloe whisper something in Frankie's ear before pulling her into a hug.  
"I give Chloe shit about it a lot, but she says they're not together, so..." Gail shrugged.  
"Would it bother you if they were?" Andy asked, drawing Gail's full attention.  
"Bother me? Why would it bother me?" Gail asked a little too sharply.  
"Come on, Gail. Do you think I'm an idiot? Actually, don't answer that," Andy laughed.  
Gail stared at her blankly.  
"I know you and Frankie were...whatever you were. It was a little more obvious than you think," Andy admitted.  
Gail didn't know how to respond. Andy didn't hang out with them outside of work all that often. All she would have seen at work was Gail and Frankie bickering.  
"We weren't- oh, fuck it," Gail decided. "We weren't serious, okay? I don't know what we were, but whatever it was wasn't anything."  
"Okay," Andy nodded.  
"So, no, it wouldn't bother me. It might almost be cute in a puke your guts out kind of way."  
"Eww..." Andy said. "I think you're right."


	8. Chapter 8

"Oh my God!" Frankie said, her genuine shock startling the girls.   
"What?" Chloe asked, stepping up to her slightly.  
"You don't have fifteen cats?!" she put a hand her to chest dramatically.  
"Fuck you..." Chloe rolled her eyes, gaining an eyebrow wag in response.  
The night had turned into nearly 3 A.M. which in turn had ended up with all four girls planning to stay at Chloe's apartment. It was the closest to the club and they had all spent so much money there that the less Uber fare the better.  
"It's cute here," Andy said, only slightly less intoxicated than the others.  
"Why thank you," Chloe smiled. "Make yourselves at home. I'm finding more alcohol."  
Gail groaned loudly and fell back onto a recliner.  
"Are you done drinking, Gail?" Chloe asked, turning back before heading into the kitchen.  
"Nope," she grinned, pulling out her phone and tap tap tapping away at the keys once again.  
Chloe made her way into the kitchen and pulled out the wine and vodka, neither of which had she gotten around to drinking in the prior weeks. Her equilibrium was only slightly off and she was honestly having a great time. The club may not have been her 'scene' but a few drinks and dances in she had relaxed noticably. It was the first time in a while that she felt like she had actual girl friends. She was so used to spending time with Dov, or sharing banter with Gail. This adventure felt like it was exactly what she needed.  
"You need any help?" Frankie asked, suddenly leaning against the refrigerator. What was it with this chick and acting like she owned everywhere?  
"Um, soda? I think there's some stuff in the fridge. And shot glasses..." Chloe mostly said to herself, rifling around in cabinets. It wasn't too often she needed to use shot glasses in her apartment.  
"I can't help you there," Frankie chuckled at Chloe looking lost in her own place. "I got the soda though."

XXX

"How's Holly?" Andy asked, pulling Gail's attention away from her phone yet again.  
"Good," Gail smiled. "It's almost bed time for her though," she said with an sad expression.  
"It is way past bed time for us," Andy laughed. She peeked over into the kitchen when she heard a giggle coming from the room. Over the wall she could only see part of the scuffle, but Frankie definitely had Chloe around the waist while the small girl tried to juggle shot glasses. "Do you think she likes her?" she asked Gail, nodding toward the kitchen.  
"Which one?" Gail asked genuinely, peeking just in time to see the scuffle come to an end.  
"Frankie. Do you think she likes Chloe or just wants to sleep with ladies?"   
"Is 'all of the above' an option?" Gail asked, putting her phone away.  
Andy shrugged.   
"I mean, yeah, she obviously wants to sleep with ladies but she seems different with Chloe. Happier," she noted, quieting as the girls approached. "I have an idea," Gail said mostly to Andy with a wicked grin on her face. "Let's play 'I Never."  
"I know this ended up being a sleepover but holy high school, Gail," Frankie laughed, sitting on the floor cross-legged after depositing the alcohol on the coffee table.  
"You scared, Anderson?" Gail challenged. "We all already know that Chloe's gonna lose anyway."  
"Hey!" Chloe said, offended. "You don't know me," she added in a rough accent, laughing at herself.   
"On second thought it might be a good idea," Frankie grinned at the drunken muppet.  
"Oooh ooh I'm going first!" Chloe slapped the table excitedly as she poured the first round of shots. The other three looked at her in slightly nervous anticipation. "I never...kissed a girl!"  
Gail and Frankie exchanged irritated looks. She got them and she knew it. If they were playing dirty then game on. They took their shots and glared at Chloe.  
"I never had sex in a bathroom stall," Gail shot back quickly at Chloe, surprised to find that she was the only one who didn't drink. "Damn, you dirty whores..."  
"Alright. This whole shot glass thing isn't working out. If I have to pour them every time someone asks a question we'll be here all night," Chloe blew the hair out of her face and took a swig from the bottle, causing all three ladies to laugh.  
It was Andy's turn. "I never slept with someone I worked with."  
"Um...."   
"You married one."  
"Does that mean you're not sleeping with him? Because really, what's the point?" Chloe asked, lost.  
"You guys are idiots. I just wanted us all to drink," Andy grinned.  
The game went on for almost an hour before the girls began to get tired and lose their luster. Andy was curled up the the corner of the couch, awake but cozy. Frankie and Chloe were on the floor leaning against the couch, Frankie's arm lightly draped behind the muppet. It had been that way for a while. Sleepy Chloe seemed like she was almost leaning in to the embrace. Gail wondered if it was the alcohol, the hour of the night or both. Or something else entirely.  
"I never had a crush on a straight girl," Gail said suddenly, smiling at Frankie and the half-lidded Chloe. Frankie only glared for a moment.  
"You lie," Frankie laughed.  
"No, really. I mean, I didn't realise I liked women until Holly but no, never a straight girl," she shrugged honestly.   
"Bitch," Frankie muttered, taking one last swig. Gail just grinned.  
"Bed time," Chloe said quietly, her voice thick with sleep.  
"I'm good right here," Andy said without opening her eyes.  
"Me too," Gail nodded, opening the foot of the recliner. She looked at Frankie for a bit too long, trying not to smirk.  
"Come on," Chloe said, patting Frankie's arm as she slowly rose to her feet. She reached out for the girl's hand and dragged her up as well, leading them back into the hallway without even a hint of awkwardness. Gail chuckled to herself. She knew they were just going to sleep but Chloe's comfort level with the usually rough detective still astounded her. 

XXX

"What. The. Hell?!" Gail answered the phone like a bitch on a mission. She had ignored the first three calls. Four calls. Five calls. On call six she picked up her phone to find five missed calls and eleven texts from Dov. Her irritated tone caused Andy to stir on the couch across the room.  
"Where are you?" Dov spat out quickly, sounding more than exasperated.  
"What the fuck, Dad? Mind your business!" Gail practically yelled. And she had been sleeping so well...  
"Where's Chloe?"  
"Oh my God, seriously? Did you blow up her phone too?"   
"It's going straight to voicemail. I can't tell if it's off or if she's dodging my calls," he told her.  
"It died last night. She probably forgot to plug it in," Gail grumbled. "I'm hanging up now."  
"No wait! Do you know where she is? Is she safe?" he asked in a rush.  
"Unless she asphyxiated on her own vomit, she's fine. Though after last night that is a real possibility."  
"That's not funny, Gail," he said sternly.  
"Dov! She's fine. And I'm actually glad her phone's off because if she would have woken up to six calls and eleven texts from you--"  
"What, Gail? What would she have done?" he snapped.  
"Hopefully dumped your sorry ass."

XXX

Gail and Andy had finished nearly an entire pot of coffee and three episodes of "Golden Girls" before they heard Chloe's bedroom door open. For a moment Gail considered going to brew a fresh pot for them but then she remembered who she was. Chloe shuffled out in her strawberry slippers with Frankie right behind her, both looking better than they felt. Frankie folded herself into the corner of the couch opposite Andy while Chloe went to the kitchen, making more coffee without question.   
Gail thought about Dov. She was about to tell Chloe that she might want to plug in her phone before she decided that she didn't want to ruin the girl's morning quite yet. Maybe she really was growing as a person.  
Seven minutes later Chloe joined them in the living room with two mugs of coffee. She handed one to Frankie, who instinctively shifted on the couch so that the girl could sit down next to her. Andy eyed them out of her periphery and Gail watched as a small smirk appeared.  
"Ooh, 'Golden Girls'," Chloe said sleepily, lying her head back onto the couch as they continued to watch. "You guys sleep okay?" she asked, hoping her meager living room furniture was sufficient.  
"So well," Andy told her honestly.   
"Me too," Gail nodded.  
"Good," Chloe smiled, relaxed.  
"Um, Chloe?" Gail said and Chloe could hear the concern in her voice. She suddenly had her full attention. "I woke up to about seventeen million texts and calls from your douchy boyfriend. You might want to call him," Gail said apologetically.  
"Ughhhh, I forgot my phone was dead," Chloe grumbled, running her hand through her hair in frustration. "Did you tell him we were here?"  
"No. He was being an ass," Gail shrugged. "I figured him knowing that you were fine was all the information he needed."  
"Thanks," Chloe smiled. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that Frankie was staring at her face, looking worried. She smiled slightly, resting her hand on the girl's knee for a moment, in her own way trying to tell her that it would be okay. She wouldn't allow herself to be 'in trouble' with Dov for a second time.

XXX


End file.
